Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Ahoy,

I getting screwed down tight on eliminating players from the roster that have high DP potential and low to minus Clutch ratings. Am I too retentive?????

Yettie

How is it working for you? I can honestly say I've never considered them and I'm competitive. On-base and slugging percentages seem much more relevant over 162 games.

I think clutch is great if you've got it, but if you don't it's not such a big deal - my last few completed teams had about 22 or 23 clutch chances per season each. Even if they'd all been outs, that's still a mighty small number, and in fact the teams I checked did about as well either way - a team that finished chasing more cars than rings had plus clutch results while another that lost a seven-game finals series by a total of 3 runs was 8-14 for clutch. Double-plays can be more costly, depending on your style of team - with a lot of bashers, you might not worry as much about losing your baserunners as when you've only got a couple of RBI guys and need their extra-base hits to be productive. That's my take on it, anyway.

I'd like to see the team--post it if you want comments on the team itself.

Generally to me: DP (or lack of them) seem more important than clutch hitting to me---I hate guys with 30 gb-a on their cards--but I still get stuck with using them sometimes.

Clutch is good if you have a few of them---or if you use it as a tool---Hal tends to issue int Walks to high clutch players in 2 out situations that apply--if you have a power hitter behind or another high clutch guy behind it can help. A high clutch guy in front of a bad hitter or pitcher insures he will not get to drive runs in with 1b open and 2 out as Hal will walk him every time unless the owner goes super conservative in strategy.

really bad clutch (guys with -10 or more) isn't good in the middle of the lineup--especially the 5th hitter seems to hit with 2 out often to me.

According to Dean Carrano's Strat formula, a player would lose about 1.87 runs created per 108 rolls on his card if he has 30 DP on his card (number of dp on card)*(chance of a double-play opportunity)*.333=30*.1875*.333=1.87. Top-level players create 30-35 runs in an extreme hitter's park--more in the low 20s for an extreme pitcher's park. So a couple of runs is not nothing.

I remember, there was this owner, quite succesful, who kept complaining about his most recent team, the team had the best ops, but was 3rd or 4th in scoring, had a 86-76 team despite having a pythogarian 90+ win team. His team was something like -40 in clutch, and it never crossed this owner's mind to blame the team's clutch rating.

So I would respond this topic's query by another question: in 80M leagues, with every team spending 80M, how is it that some teams win constantly 95 wins and some others win 70 games, with everything in between?

My own answer comes down to maximizing value, all values, value that come from having homerun hitters in homerun stadiums, or pitchers allowing homeruns in small-ball stadiums, having on-base machines at the top of the offensive line-ups, having the best defense for the hitters at the bottom of the lineups, and yes, having good clutch and low gbA when it counts.

Actually, how could it be different?

I have to add though, if SOM miscalculated the value of clutch, if it overalued the real value of clutch, then it would make sense to load a 80M of players with negative clutch rating. I don't think it's the case, thogh; in fact it undervalues it something.

But the point is, if you want the full picture, clutch can't be ignored, even though it has less impact then pitching value, on-base and slugging.

This whole discussion has opened my eyes and given me more to think about (as if I don't think about my teams too much already). What is average DP and clutch on cards so I can learn how to read for them? Thanks.

dennispetroskey wrote:What is average DP and clutch on cards so I can learn how to read for them? Thanks.

Any Groundball-a is a potential double play with a runner on first. (infield in, or Hit & Run may change it to a fielders choice)

Groundball-B is a fielders choice--lead runner out/

Groundball c is batter out runners advance.

The chances add just like hits--6 chances for any 7 roll that is a groundball a, 5 for 8 or 6 rolls and so-on.

Some players have no GB-a at all on their cards---(usually fast guys, but not always) (Hamilton 2014)

Some players have as many as 40+ GB-a (1970 Rico Carty and he hit .366 too)

I really don't know what an avg rating would be, but probably near the 20 mark.

Clutch is preceded by a $ sign--it turns hits into outs, or outs into hits with 2 out and runners in scoring position--the vast majority of players seem to be hits into outs types---described mostly as negative clutch or positive clutch

Thanks for taking the time to share this information. Since this thread started, I've looked at my team and am not surprised that Billy Williams is leading the league in double play groundouts and that Rennie Stennett is second in the league in hitting but leaves some runners in scoring position.

I just had a three-game series in Fenway where my team left 37 men on base. I suspect my team's clutch hitting ability had something to do with that. Again, thanks to all who have contributed.